Make Employment Accessible
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, so, to mark this we wanted to talk about accessibility in online hiring. Many organizations include employment opportunities directly on their website by way of a “careers” page. Others have an entire website devoted directly to hiring. In either case it is important that your online hiring process is accessible to everyone.
What Is Website Accessibility?
Website accessibility involves taking steps that ensure that people with disabilities are able to access your website and its information. In particular there are four main categories of access to think about. These are:
- Cognitive Ability: There are many people who live with a range of cognitive disabilities that must be considered in online hiring.
- Motor Ability: People with limited fine motor skills need to be able to access all areas of your website without using a mouse.
- Audible Access: Your website should be accessible to people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
- Visual Access: People who have low vision, are blind, or are colorblind need to be able to access the information on your website.
How To Improve Your Online Hiring Process:
There are several steps that you can take to ensure that you hiring website is accessible to all of these groups of people. Doing this will help you attract top talent, support diversity, and prevent discrimination for your organization. Steps of website accessibility for online hiring include:
Screen Reader Compatibility:
A screen reader can be used to translate website information into speech or braille. In order for this to work properly your page structure needs to have good navigational elements like page titles, headers, and sub headers. And, all photos and non-decorative images need to have alternative text that can be read by a screen reader.
Form Fields:
These are especially important for online hiring where people will be filling out forms, answering questions, and submitting information about themselves. Make sure all form fields like check boxes are labeled so people understand the form field and the kind of information it requires. It should also be setup to validate user input and notify users about mistakes and how to correct them.
Color Contrast:
Test the design elements of your website and online hiring forms to determine if they can be read by people who are color blind. Color blindness effects about 8% of men in the world and people who are color blind typically cannot see red, green, or blue lights clearly.
Captions:
Often the online hiring process includes videos about your organization or even and online interview process. Make sure that all videos and audio content have captions or transcripts.
Captcha Tests:
These tests, which are used to determine if a webpage user is human, should have an audio option.
Keyboard Accessibility:
Make sure that your website can be fully navigated using only a keyboard.
Timed Content:
Make sure that users are able to adjust, extend, or turn of the time limit on content that expires. This is also something to consider when conducting online, automated interviews.
Moving Content:
Many websites use moving content to create visual interest and engage users. This may include slideshows, videos, or pop-up boxes. It is important that this kind of content avoids excessive blinking, which could induce seizures. You should also include a stop or pause button for people with cognitive or visual-processing disabilities.
In 2019 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 7.3% unemployment rate among people with disabilities. Provide equal opportunity for employment by making your online application and interview process available to everyone. Is your website accessible? Contact MIBS, Inc. for a website assessment and find out.
